In these stores you can’t get aspirin or dipyrone, but vitamins or cough syrups are available at stratospheric prices.
14ymedio, Olea Gallardo, Havana, October 9, 2025 — “Payment in dollars, starting October 1st.” This information surprised the few customers of the Sevilla Hotel pharmacy on Tuesday, the employees heard. Until just a few days ago, it was an establishment where payments could be made in freely convertible currency (MLC), but now only fula [US dollars], foreign credit cards, or the Classic prepaid card are allowed.
According to the same workers, the same thing is happening in all the “international” pharmacies, like the one on the ground floor of the Habana Libre Hotel. Calling them pharmacies, in any case, is an exaggeration, as the selection is limited and mostly focuses on vitamin supplements.
Shoppers were even more surprised to learn that they didn’t have aspirin or dipyrone*, common medicines. As for the prices, the high prices are no longer surprising. Cough syrups range from $13 to $19, laxatives at $11, vitamins—even those manufactured in Mexico, like Troffin—at more than $20. As is often the case in other state-run stores, the items fill the shelves even if they are of the same type.
“Antibiotics, painkillers, and other necessary things like that are very easy to get ‘on the left’ . No one is going to buy those things from them,” explained a woman accustomed to this type of transaction. “They’ve come late to wanting to get dollars from selling medicines, and they know perfectly well that the black market has cornered them.”
Indeed, the list of medicines for sale on “specialized” Telegram channels and WhatsApp groups resembles a real pharmacy, at lower prices than the official ones. A young man who regularly buys his mother’s diabetes medication through these channels comments: “Those pharmacies are going to fail.”
*Note: [from the ‘web’] “Metamizole, also known as dipyrone, is a strong analgesic and antipyretic that is available in many countries but is not authorized for use in the United States. It is marketed under hundreds of brand names by numerous manufacturers globally. ‘
Translated by Regina Anavy
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